GOP Businessman Brunner Enters Mo. Senate Race

The Republican race to challenge Senator Claire McCaskill in 2012 is officially a three-way contest.

By Rachel Lippmann (St. Louis)

John Brunner chairs the board of Vi-Jon, a St. Louis-based company that makes the hand sanitizer Germ-X. He has a long track record of donating to Republican and conservative causes. But he’s never run for public office—which he says makes him the most qualified person to serve.

“Career politicians with political experience alone are just unable to restore the American dream,” he said. “They have no because they have no real world experience to guide them.”

A spokesperson for Congressman Todd Akin welcomed Brunner into the race but said he remained confident Akin would win. The campaign of former state treasurer Sarah Steelman did not return a phone call for comment in time.